White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is leaving his White House post, according to White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders who said Friday would be Bannon’s last day on the job.
“We are grateful for his service and wish him the best,” she said in a statement confirming reports of Bannon’s departure.
Bannon, the former editor-in-chief of Breitbart News, was a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump and a key member of his general election campaign.
Bannon’s dismissal followed a bizarre Aug. 16 interview he started with a liberal writer with whom he had never spoken from the left-leaning The American Prospect.
During the interview, Bannon seemingly mocked the American military threat to North Korea, implying it was nonsense.
“Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that 10 million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Bannon said. “There’s no military solution here; they got us.”
For months, Bannon pushed Trump to follow through with his “America first” campaign promises.
But he’d also sparred with some of Trump’s closest advisers, including son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Since the appointment of General John Kelly as White House Chief, Bannon had reportedly spent less and less time with Trump.
Kelly was allegedly horrified at the attacks against National Security Adviser General H.R. McMaster by Breitbart, leading to a backlash against Bannon, who was accused of doing nothing to stop it.
To his credit, Bannon seemed to leave the White House on good terms. He told one conservative —
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The Associated Press contributed to this article